UN Women held a round table to announce nomination of the President of Tajikistan Taekwondo Federation to the UNiTE campaign Network of Men Leaders and call other sport federations to support and join the campaign

For more information please contact:
Zarina Urakova
Programme Associate
UN Women,
E-mail: [ Click to reveal ]
Website: www.unwomen.org and www.unwomen-eeca.org

Mr. Mirsaid is an active supporter of the UNiTE campaign in Tajikistan since 2009. The Federation, under the guidance of Mirsaid Yakhyaev, annually conducts various awareness raising campaigns in support of the UN SG “Campaign UNiTE to end Violence against Women” (VAW) in Tajikistan and mobilized the staff of the Federation, representatives of the National Sport’s Committee and colleagues from other federations to promote UNiTE campaign and support ongoing federations’ actions to end violence against women and girls. Along with raising public awareness activities, the Federation promotes the girls’ participation in sports life, advocating equal opportunities both for girls and boys, encourages girls’ participation in Taekwondo and Kickboxing and makes every effort to involve them at an early age. Taking into account all the work completed by the Federation, UNIFEM (UN Women) supported the nomination of Mirsaid Yakhyaev into the Global Network of Men Leaders in 2010.

Network of Men Leaders was established in 2009 at the official observance of the 10th anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of VAW and in recognition of the important role that men and boys play in ending violence against women and girls. Network members are representatives of various sectors of social, economic, political and cultural life who accepted the invitation to be part of the Network and signed the affirmation that they have neither committed nor tolerated violence against women and girls. The Network is just one more initiative of UNSG “UNiTE to End Violence against Women” campaign, which will run till 2015.

The event provided a platform for participants to be introduced with the work and experience of the Federation of Taekwondo in the frame of the Global Campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women”, to raise the existing problems in sport and discuss solutions, to speak out on the crucial role of man and boys to prevent the issue of violence and to encourage partnership to address violence against women and girls.

At the outcomes of the event, National Taekwondo Federation Tajikistan made an appeal together to other sport federations in Tajikistan to work in their sphere and to support girls’ involvement into sports, inspire more men and boys to speak out and undertake specific actions to end violence against women and girls, embrace equality and advocate for healthy relations with a family and society.

The appeal particularly stated the following: “We appeal to all sports federations of Tajikistan to join, the UN Secretary -General global campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women.” Athletes can and should become the main driving force of the campaign and prove that the concept of power and dignity are essential qualities of real men. We call upon the sports federations of Tajikistan to assist in the dissemination of the UN Secretary-General Campaign information at the national and international sporting level, involving other sports federations to the campaign.”

More detailed information about Global Network of Men Leaders and Federation activities to support UNiTE campaign can be found at the web-site of the Federation: www.taekwon-do.tj and the web-page of the Gender Thematic Group (GTG) in Tajikistan:www.untj.org/coordination-mechanisms/gendera and at:https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.

At the end of the round table, Mirsaid Yakhyaev emphasized that he will continue supporting the Campaign’s objectives and called everybody to speak up against violence by stating that: “We have to be UNiTE to make our society peaceful and free from violence. Let’s join our efforts to achieve sport victory only”.